LEWISTON – More than two years after white supremacists rallied in Lewiston, a documentary about that day and the events that led up to it are still making headlines.
Documentary filmmaker Ziad Hamzeh’s movie, “The Letter,” opened at New York City’s Pioneer Theater Wednesday to rave reviews. It screened at two Amnesty International Film festivals last month.
“We’ve had some bookings, but we’re really hoping to build on the New York opening,” said Alex Williams of Arab Film Distribution, the company that released the film.
The documentary is scheduled to play in Charlottesville, Va., on April 3 and at the International Film Society of Eau Claire, Wis., on April 7.
“We’re talking about other bookings, as well,” Williams said. He’s negotiating to bring the film to Maine later this spring and release it for home video viewing this summer, after the theatrical run.
Reviews in the New York Post Wednesday praised the film, saying it “moves as breathlessly as a Hollywood thriller – only it’s much more frightening, because it’s true.”
The story
The documentary tells the story of Lewiston’s Somalis and the controversy that arrived with them.
Between early 2000 and October 2002, more than 1,100 Somali immigrants moved to Lewiston. The influx prompted Mayor Larry Raymond to write an “open letter” to the local Somali community, asking them to stop friends and family from arriving in large numbers.
The letter drew an angry response from Somali leaders and charges of bigotry. Subsequent worldwide media attention attracted white supremacists, who saw an opportunity to recruit members.
The 75-minute film includes footage of twin rallies held in Lewiston on Jan. 11, 2003. The sequence of the rallies – one for peace and unity, the other for hate – cuts between neo-Nazis’ talk of “race mixing” and pleas for peace by people including Gov. John Baldacci.
Kader Said of Lewiston, a member of the Many and One Coalition that grew out of those events, said Wednesday that “The Letter” is an accurate retelling of the events.
“It’s not just here,” Said said. “This is a country of immigrants, and there are new immigrants coming all the time. Other communities may face the same problems. So I think it’s a good thing for people to watch.”
Good changes
The community has changed much since the events, and since the movie debuted, Said said.
“People are just part of the community now,” he said. “It’s something that takes time. People know each other now, much better than we did before.”
The Many and One Coalition showed the film last year, during the anniversary of the Jan. 11 rallies.
It premiered in November 2003 at the American Film Institute’s International Film Festival in Los Angeles. Since then, it’s been making the rounds of film festivals and has garnered universally strong reviews.
It won the best documentary honors at the 2004 Boston International Film Festival and was nominated as best documentary at the 2004 Pan-African Film Festival.
It was named official selection at several other film festivals in 2004, including the Greenwich Film Festival, Maine International Film Festival, Minneapolis/St. Paul Film Festival, the Rhode Island Film Festival, the Tallgrass Film Festival and the African Diaspora Film Festival. It was a selection at the 2005 Santa Barbara African Heritage Film Series.
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